Urbanista photo by Lisa Bauso
The recurring dialogue I have with myself while driving goes something like this: I hit a cyclist, she dies, I’m carted away by the police, I serve a prison term of indeterminate but interminable duration. My children, shamed, have to change schools, and my husband, during his weekly visits, chronicles the decline of our beloved garden, a symbol of the death spiral my actions set in motion.
Worried about hitting a cyclist or pedestrian, I’ve recently cut back on driving at night and drive less and less overall. To be sure, I’ve never liked driving, a trait I inherited from my mother, who was famous in our Seattle neighborhood for preferring the “non freeway route.” And like any bona fide Portlander, I limit car travel to improve health, economy and environment.
But as I get older, fear is also playing a role. Portland does a better job than most mitigating conflicts between cars and two wheelers or people on foot. Still, in a world dominated by fast moving two-ton machines, opportunities for death and injury abound. And even in pdx, too many poorly designed streets and non existent driver liability laws compromise safe biking and walking—leaving the burden of responsible driving up to the individual.
That burden is too much for me. Despite efforts to drive slowly and keep an eye out for non-motorized transport, I’m still convinced that somewhere, sometime, I will hit someone. And I wonder how many drivers feel the same way. I wonder how much of the vitriol directed towards cyclists and pedestrians is really animated by fear—the fear of hitting a two wheeler, the fear of a societal shift that is taking place even as the necessary social and physical infrastructure is still inadequate to support it.
Perhaps that’s too generous an analysis. But in cities like Amsterdam and Copenhagen, a deeply ingrained multi modal culture, including mixed use street design and strict speed limits and driver liability, takes the pressure off everyone, including, paradoxically, drivers.
To be a bit literary about it, let me end with this epigraph from a Nadine Gordimer book I just finished reading: July’s People, a parable of South Africa. “The old is dying and the new cannot be born. In this interregnum arises a great diversity of morbid symptoms.” As American car culture falters and the new bike/ped/transit culture struggles to gain ascendancy –I am, it would seem, experiencing a diversity of morbid symptoms.
I strongly agree that much of the vitriol cyclists encounter is actually about fear, even if the angry parties themselves aren’t aware of it. In particular, I think there is an intersection of entitlement (I should be able to drive the way I want, especially if that is legal) and fear (I don’t want to kill anyone) that leads to anger, because our current facilities and laws are insufficient to actually protect vulnerable users.
Going 25 down most residential streets in the city is TOO FAST to be safe if there are cyclists and pedestrians present, but drivers often go that fast because, hey, they’re allowed to. And then they see that cyclist there, in the road, endangered by their speed. And they don’t think, “I should slow down!” but rather “That cyclist shouldn’t be here! It’s not safe!” And the fault for that vulnerability, in the driver’s mind, becomes the cyclist’s, rather than the city planners’ or the lawmakers’ or the driver’s. And there is anger and resentment that the cyclist is there, being vulnerable, scaring them.
Sorry. That was a ramble. What I mean is, I agree with you. And I also agree that the best way to protect all users and be less afraid is to drive more carefully, more slowly, and as little as possible.
Hey Katie P,
I thought that was pretty succinct, not rambling. Especially the part about entitlement. Drivers have been trained to see any limitations as an attack on their liberty, as if they should have the right to travel unimpeded. So they are startled when a bike or pedestrian tries to share “their” space.
Lisa
The old is dying? Sometimes I wish I could choke it and stomp on it and make it go quicker. Thanks for another great article Linda (and comment ie P). I live in an area that is hammerd with “beach” traffic….drunk drivers, high speeds, litter adn noise. Yet cyclists are the recipiants of all of my neighbor’s vitriol. There is no logic to it, other than as you’ve described. Cyclists are bringing about the death of the king of the road.
Linda,
Great essay. And I absolutely agree that a lot of the anger directed at people on the road isn’t really true anger or hatred… it’s based in fear. People on bikes literally fear for their lives because all it takes is a small mistake or brief span of inattention and they could be killed… While people in cars fear that no matter what they do and no matter how careful they are, they might hit someone on a bike. I actually try to drive our mini-van around town in high bike usage areas just to not lose this perspective.
As a avid cyclist, and owner of a car, I feel the same way. I worry about that one time when I pull up to an intersection with cars parked on every corner. I can’t see around them for the life of me, and when I pull out a cyclist appears… There are so many scenarios of the like that run through my mind. Driving with the fear of hitting a cyclist is not a fun way to drive.
I bike way more often than I drive, and I definitely appreciate and applaud your driving less. But this element of fear, at this intensity, seems a bit excessive to me. Someone has to run afoul of one or more of the following to make an accident possible:
1) the law
2) principles of courtesy
3) principles of common sense
If you’re following all of these, you’ve fulfilled all your responsibilities and you are almost certainly not going to hit anyone. If you do, it will be because THEY did something wrong, and created the situation. It’s not your fault if they do that! We can’t take on responsibility for the actions and bad decisions of everyone out there!
I dunno. Granted: Some people’s “common sense” isn’t all that “common” if you catch my drift, and some people are just jerks. But if you can’t take some sort of solace or refuge in the law, courtesy and common sense, then what CAN you trust? The laws aren’t perfect; nothing is, but at some point one needs to get on with life. We can never make life risk-free, but we can make a few practical rules, have everybody agree to the rules, and follow them.
(And by the way, we should all act and behave as if everyone else is going to follow the rules, and is following them. Don’t even consider the possibility someone might not stop at a stop sign. In truth it’s quite possible he might not — but always assume he will. Because that’s the law and that’s the norm and that’s just the way it is. You have to believe in the rule of law, or pretty soon lawlessness becomes more and more accepted, and chaos becomes the new norm.)
Where did you ever get the idea that killing a cyclist with your car would result in you going to jail? See there, on the back of your pollution entitlement, er, driver’s license, it says ‘kill a cyclist, get out of jail free.’
Your two key phrases are:”I didn’t see her at all.” and “She came out of nowhere.”
Remember to thank the nice officer on your way home.
Twitter: portlandafoot
says:
This was actually a fairly big part of my decision to go car-free.
Presence of mind isn’t among my strengths. As a result, I’m a below-average driver — there’s no doubt in my mind. Thank god I’d never had a substantial collision with anything else (bike, pedestrian, car, etc.) but I’m pretty sure, with the number of hours I was behind a wheel, it was just a matter of time.
Living without a car has definitely improved my driving. On the occasions when I do drive a Zipcar or friend’s vehicle, I’m no longer transported into this fantasy world where I’m confident of my ability to react at 45 mph. Spending so much time moving at human speeds means that I’ve regained what was (when I was 16! in retrospect I remember it perfectly!) a visceral understanding that a two-ton vehicle rocketing down the street is extremely dangerous and deserves my undivided attention.
Don’t get me wrong, cars can be great and useful and necessary for many. But this is part of the reason they’re not for me.
I completely understand your fear of hitting a cyclist! I am always excited when I see that we are adding a bike path in the road… which I know is not shared by many. I unfortunately have to drive a half hour to work. If I did not have to take the highway and work so far away I know that I would live car free. I just hope we continue to help the bikers receive the paths needed so we can share the road.
I live in London where the bike culture is the opposite of Amsterdam and Copenhagen. We have thousands of cyclists – of whom I am one – but the separation of cyclists and motorized traffic is poor (our cycle superhighway concept is a laugh) and result is that each ride feels like a dice with death. I wish the car, bus and freight drivers here had your worries about an accident because they seem to have no conscience at all. Problem is that cars and trucks seem so insulated and cocooned away from the outside world that drivers lose their sense of danger. Long may you keep yours!
I think I’m right there with Streetdog: The old is dying? Sometimes I wish I could choke it and stomp on it and make it go quicker.
As I’ve slowing managed to move my career into a home-based model, I am loving my bike more and more (just got a new one!) But we live in rural Colorado where cycling of every sort is huge.
Since I can avoid driving more and more, it makes me think more and more about driving at all. Our new Honda Fit gets great mileage but why drive at all?
I haven’t arrived at the place of being afraid of hitting someone on a bike but I can see how it would be a serious concern living in a metro setting.
Thanks for taking time to call attention to the circumstance and causing some forward motion to remedy the situation.
Bert
“The old is dying and the new cannot be born.” What a parallel you have drawn to describe your current situation. But the fact remains that we have to coexist side by side. I just hope that the city elders make appropriate arrangements for the safety of both.